Leasing your roof for solar panels in California: who pays, and what to check

Roof lease, solar lease and PPA: who pays whom

Three arrangements put someone else’s panels on your roof, and they are easy to confuse because salespeople use the word “lease” for more than one of them. The California Public Utilities Commission’s consumer guide describes the two common ones: “With a lease, the solar provider owns the system on your property and ‘rents’ it to you,” and in a power purchase agreement “the solar provider owns the system on your property and sells you the electricity it generates.” CPUC·checked Sep 23, 2026 A roof lease turns that around.

If an offer to “lease your roof” asks you to make monthly payments, it is a solar lease or PPA, not a roof lease. Those can be reasonable choices; they just answer a different question. Our guide to renting solar panels through a lease or PPA explains that side.

LADWP Solar Rooftops: California’s residential roof lease

LADWP describes the program in one line: “Customers receive a check for rooftop use—regardless of how much solar energy is produced.” It inspects the home, designs a 1 to 10 kW system, pulls the permit with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, installs it and connects it to its grid. “LADWP owns the system and receives all energy generated.” Residential customers on rate schedules R1-A, R1-B, R1-D or R1-E may qualify, and homes must be owner-occupied. LADWP·checked Sep 23, 2026

Source: LADWP Solar Rooftops Program Guidelines, Table 1. LADWP·checked Sep 23, 2026 The revised guidelines add $25 a month for homes that also host an LADWP battery, but they take effect only when the City Council approves the revised lease agreement, so confirm with LADWP whether the battery option is open. Payments come as a prorated 12-month prepayment once the system is approved, then yearly prepayments or on-bill credits at LADWP’s choice; leave early and you repay the unused part of that year.

The terms, application steps and eligibility details are covered in full in our LADWP Solar Rooftops guide.

Outside Los Angeles

We found no program that rents roof space from homeowners in PG&E, SCE or SDG&E territory. The CPUC’s community solar programs work the other way round: customers subscribe to off-site solar projects rather than host panels. Its DAC Green Tariff, for instance, serves income-qualified residential customers in disadvantaged communities “who may be unable to install solar on their roof.” CPUC·checked Sep 23, 2026 Whether subscribing makes sense is covered in is community solar worth it.

Your own municipal utility may run something local, so check its website before assuming there is nothing. If a private company offers to pay you for roof space, ask what it will do with the power, which utility contract it sells under, and for its contractor license number, which you can check against CSLB’s list of classes allowed to install solar. CSLB·checked Sep 23, 2026

Business and large roofs

Roof leases are far more common on warehouses, schools and shopping centers, where a developer puts up a system large enough to sell power to a utility. In Los Angeles, LADWP’s Feed-in Tariff “allows property owners and developers to sell the output of local eligible renewable energy projects directly to LADWP” under a standard power purchase agreement of up to 20 years. Its pricing table starts at projects of 30 kW, and as of September 18, 2026 lists 14.5 cents per kWh for in-basin solar projects from 30 kW to 500 kW. LADWP·checked Sep 23, 2026

That price is what the utility pays the project. What a building owner receives depends on the lease with the developer: a fixed rent, a share of revenue, or owning the project outright. How developers secure a site, including roof leases, is covered in what a solar developer does, and roof condition questions for commercial buildings are in commercial solar roofing.

Contract terms to check in any roof lease

A roof lease runs for decades, so the contract matters more than the monthly figure. LADWP’s guidelines answer most of these questions, which makes them a useful benchmark for any other offer.

• Term and early exit. LADWP’s agreement runs 20 years from the date the system is installed and approved, and either side can end it with 60 days’ written notice after the first year.
• Removal at the end. LADWP must remove its equipment at its own cost within 60 days of termination or expiration; equipment it leaves behind is treated as abandoned, and what happens to it is up to you.
• Roof repairs. LADWP’s system can be removed twice at no expense to you: once for rooftop repairs and once at the end of the term. Ask any other tenant who pays to lift the array, and how many times.
• Sale of the home. Under LADWP’s terms the new owner takes your place, you give 30 days’ notice before the transfer, and a buyer can choose to end the agreement.
• Maintenance and safety. LADWP keeps sole responsibility for operating and repairing its system, and owners must not attempt repairs or open system cabinets.
• Payments. Fixed or tied to production? LADWP’s are fixed, whatever the panels produce.

LADWP·checked Sep 23, 2026 For any other roof tenant, also ask who carries liability insurance for the equipment, whether the agreement will be recorded against your property, and how your roof warranty is affected. Have the roof checked first: a lease locks the roof under panels for years, and our roof suitability guide covers what to look at.

Roof lease or your own system?

A roof lease and your own panels compete for the same roof, so you can’t easily have both. The trade is simple to state. A roof lease pays a small, fixed amount with no upfront cost and no maintenance, and leaves your electric bill where it was. Owning, leasing or signing a PPA for your own system puts the power to work on your bill, with more cost, paperwork and risk.

To weigh the second route, start with cash, loan, lease or PPA compared. If the roof itself is the obstacle, a flat roof or tile roof has its own guide. And if someone at the door promises “free” panels in exchange for your roof, read how to spot a solar scam before you sign anything.